Tagged With jailbreaking

Over the last 24 hours, owners of iOS devices across the globe have been compelled to take their expensive gadgets, wrap them in Glad Wrap and stick them inside their refrigerator. What on Earth would make anyone do that, short of a mental break? Well, it is because of a break of sorts — a jailbreak.

On May 30, security research Ian Beer, well-known in the industry for uncovering bugs in Apple software, announced the discovery of two new exploits in iOS — specifically 11.3.1, which until recently was the most up-to-date build. Shortly afterwards, the jailbreaking community went bonkers, the promise of an updated jailbreak for Apple gadgets, both new and old, seemingly around the corner. But, here we are, well into June, with no public jailbreak in sight. So, what's going on?

If you still own an iPhone 4, chances are it's sitting in a drawer somewhere gathering dust. You've probably thought about throwing it out, but now there's finally something useful you can do with your old smartphone instead: turn it into a feature phone.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I said jailbreaking is basically dead. But it seems no-one told Google security engineer Ian Beer. He's released detailed information that describes how to exploit a memory corruption vulnerability that works on almost all 64-bit Apple devices running iOS 11.1.2 or earlier. This can, he says, be used to create a jailbreak.

When the first iOS devices were released, savvy hackers got to work on breaking down Apple's walled garden so users could install their own apps. That process, jailbreaking, relied on finding vulnerabilities in iOS that could be exploited to side-load apps and UI customisation. But, over the last few years, Apple has shutdown the number of vulnerabilities that are exploitable in this way. Over the last week, the ModMyi and ZodTTD/MacCiti repositories closed down, leaving just one default repository for Cydia.

Jailbreaking your iOS device has always been a pastime for tinkerers and users who want a little more from their iPhone or iPad, though the practice has fallen out of favour as of late. The process of unlocking your device never stays stagnant, however, so we're here to let you know how to jailbreak your device.

iOS: iOS 9 has been jailbroken for a while, but the smaller software iterations have been relatively untouched. Now, a clunky, Windows-only and Chinese-language-only jailbreak is available for the newest iOS operating system.

Jailbreaking may be falling out of favour these days, but it's still useful for those that love to tweak and customise. Whether you're sick of Apple's walled garden or you just like everything a certain way, jailbreaking allows you to really take control of your iPhone. It's not as necessary as it once was, but it's just as fun as ever.

iOS 9 isn't even out yet, but the OS has already been successfully jailbroken. This means you'll be able to unshackle the hardware restrictions from your iPhone 6S or 6S Plus as soon as you pull it out of the box. While there are certainly benefits to jailbreaking your iOS device, it also opens up a range of significant threats. If you're thinking of going down this route, be sure to read this first...

A new family of malware that targets 'jailbroken' iOS devices has been discovered and it has already stolen over 225,000 Apple accounts across 18 countries including Australia. Dubbed KeyRaider, it has resulted in anything from abnormal app purchases using stolen Apple accounts to iPhones being held for ransom remotely.

There's nothing inherently wrong with a product you buy off the shelf, but there's definitely something awesome about hacking it to make it better. This weekend, throw your warranties aside and bring something new to the things you already own.

iOS 5 has still yet to get an untethered jailbreak, and unfortunately, a tethered jailbreak is kind of a bummer. Although iPhone hackers are making progress, it still may be awhile before an official untethered jailbreak is available. In the meantime, here's how we're coping without it.

Getting locked out of your home, your computer or anywhere else you want to be can suck. The same goes for those times when your gadgets prevent you from doing what you want to do with them, but it doesn't have to be that way. Here are the top 10 ways you can break into virtually anything with a literal or figurative lock.

Windows/Mac: If you're in a hurry to jailbreak your iOS 4.2.1 device, the iPhone Dev-Team (they're the band of hackers regularly releasing the best jailbreaking tools) has already released a Windows and Mac version of jailbreaking tool redsn0w that jailbreaks devices running 4.2.1. The catch: It's currently a "tethered" jailbreak, meaning "that each time your device loses battery power or needs to be rebooted, you must attach it to a PC or Mac to boot into the jailbroken state" Unless you're in a huge hurry to jailbreak, you're probably best off waiting.

If you've purchased an Apple mobile product you've also signed up for its many limitations, but jailbreaking can put you back in control. These are our top ten jailbreak hacks to help you customise and better utilise your iOS device.